A Google-incubated program that has been targeting potential ISIS members with deradicalizing content will soon be used to target violent right-wing extremists in North America, a designer of the program said at an event at the Brookings Institution on Wednesday.

Using research and targeted advertising, the initiative by London-based startup Moonshot CVE and Google’s Jigsaw technology incubator targets potentially violent jihadis and directs them to a YouTube channel with videos that refute ISIS propaganda.

In the pilot program countering ISIS, the so-called Redirect Method collected the metadata of 320,000 individuals over the course of eight weeks, using 1,700 keywords, and served them advertisements that led them to the videos. Collectively, the targets watched more than half a million minutes of videos.

The event at Brookings was primarily about the existing program aimed at undermining ISIS recruiting. “I think this is an extremely promising method,” said Richard Stengel, U.S. undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs.

Ross Frenett, co-founder of Moonshot, said his company and Jigsaw are now working with funding from private groups, including the Gen Next Foundation, to target other violent extremists, including on the hard right.

“We are very conscious — as our own organization and I know Jigsaw are — that this [violent extremism] is not solely the problem of one particular group,” Frenett said.

“Our efforts during phase two, when we’re going to focus on the violent far right in America, will be very much focused on the small element of those that are violent. The interesting thing about how they behave is they’re a little bit more brazen online these days than ISIS fan boys,” Frenett said.

He noted that this new target demographic is more visible online.

“In the U.K., if someone in their Facebook profile picture has a swastika and is pointing a gun at the camera, that person is committing a crime,” Frenett said. “In the U.S., there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. So we found that when we’re looking for individuals that are genuinely at risk of carrying out violence, that they’re relatively open online.”

Adnan Kifayat, head of global security ventures at Gen Next Foundation, said he is optimistic about applying the ISIS approach to North America. “Our interest is in countering extremism … particularly in the homeland,” he told The Intercept.

Gen Next Foundation, based in Newport Beach, California, was founded by a group of young executives, authors, entrepreneurs, and others to fight terrorism.

In the ISIS pilot program, the YouTube channel pulls pre-existing videos that, according to Yasmin Green, the head of research and development for Jigsaw, “refute ISIS’s messaging.”

One video is from a woman who secretly filmed her life in ISIS-controlled Raqqa. Another shows young people in Mosul, their faces obscured by keffiyehs for their protection, talking about life under the Islamic State.

“The branding philosophy for the entire pilot project was not to appear judgmental or be moralistic, but really to pique interest of individuals who have questions, questions that are being raised and answered by the Islamic State,” Green said.

“320,000 individuals over the course of eight weeks, using 1,700 keywords, and served them advertisements that led them to the videos. Collectively, the targets watched more than half a million minutes of videos.”

The collectively watched less than a minute and a half of videos each.

It very much looks like a failure. In fact I can’t imagine this kind of initiative every realistically being anything but a failure. Certainly they got funded by someone for it. I can’t imagine anyone involved in any kind of radical stance actually being dissuaded by a commercial.

Where are all these violent right-wing extremists? The only violence I’ve seen all year has been coming from the left, in their Democrat run ghetto shit holes. Not a single right-winger has called for murdering cops, while the left most definitely has. Pretty sure Naomi LaChance doesn’t have le chance in hell of telling shit from Shinola. THE LEFT OWNS THE VIOLENCE AND HATE!

Targeting “violent right-wing extremists”
In they eye of the current administration this definition can easily include those “clinging to their guns and bibles” as well as people objecting the new globalist agenda, obamacare, federal intrusion into State’s right or suppression of free speech.
We already entered the Orwellian society and did so without a splash, any new governmental program that aims to “contain radicalism” is more likely to further impede on our freedoms than make any impact on people who want to join ISIS.

Please, the last time the KKK were involved in vigilante justice was 35 years ago. This is 2016 not 1965. A white guy is 10,000x more likely to get killed by a black yelling “black lives matter” than vice versa.

I agree Robin that the groups you listed are trouble. There are also groups on the left side of the political spectrum which are violent and dangerous as well. Why would the people responsible for this effort only target the bad elements on the radical right while ignoring the radical left?

Even though I’m suspecting that my “finger slipping” that’s picked articles from the complete opposite viewpoints than the storylines I actually wanted to read, was super suspicious, I actually found this story positive. I even thought it a good idea. As the Jigsaw guy said…
“The branding philosophy for the entire pilot project was not to appear judgmental or be moralistic, but really to pique interest of individuals who have questions, questions that are being raised and answered…”
If only my Daily news feed performed up to even those standards.
It may seem Orwellian, but then again TV commercials work the same way, and so does the pro trolls that live under the news stories.
Phrase 2.0 may be coming, but I wonder what other puzzles that Jigsaw may have come up with?
In fact my interest, after noticing so many mis-clicked news stories, was piqued enough to come up with a term for the phenomenon.
-“fingertrap” like the Google Fingertrap. Is it meme ready?
Oh I’ve fine tuned it!
* The Jigsaw Finger Trap!
I think it is active based on when I tip the tablet to load a story, then the text reformats and as my thumb hits the screen suddenly up comes the wrong hyperlink and I get totally biased Pro whoever propaganda instead.

Propaganda warfare. I find it very disturbing that Google, a private company, is attempting this kind of social engineering. Where will it end?
Don’t mistake me, I think it’s great for dissenting voices from within the Islamic State to be heard — these voices will be powerful in dissuading others from making the same mistakes — but packaging it with sinister music and graphics, and directing people to it by subterfuge, that’s counterproductive. You don’t win hearts and minds through manipulation.

I couldn’t agree with you more. All the mining of our data seems excessive and very 1984. I doubt very seriously that redirecting a radical or possible radical to an anti radical Website will make a difference. This velvet glove politically correct nonsense is just ridiculous. The only way to fight radical, political violent Islam it’s to combat it with extreme violence and stop them at our borders with force. Until Europe, America and other Western societies come to terms with this all of this Orwellian tech will be useless. What’s next thought crime models? And as far as using the same technology on our own citizens that have radical views or seem to have radical views this borderlines on soft Tyranny. Where is the ACLU on this matter? Oh wait their busy drumming up some BS against a conservative or Christian or maybe you.

You’re right to say that violent Islam must be met with violence, but violence is hardly the approach to follow with a curious youth that is browsing jihadi sites. If that youth can be persuaded by reason that he has a stake in the current order of things, all the better, no?

Along that same line of thinking: domestically we could ban movies involving violence (ex: Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson, Steven Segal, etc.). We could also ban violent video games. We could ban violent sports like football, boxing, wrestling, etc.

Similar to Google’s Orwellian thinking, banning the above items would likely reduce violence here in the USA. That’s called the Slippery Slope and it happens 100% of the time when we start embracing a “Nanny State” to make our choices for us.

The U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights “restrains” this type of government sponsored activity. Also keep in mind each and every government official, including the FBI, takes a supreme loyalty oath to operate within the boundaries of the U.S. Constitution – as a condition of holding and retaining authority.

It’s very dangerous to view foreign and domestic cases as the same thing. There is no “terrorism exemption” to the U.S. Constitution. Also keep in mind how grossly inaccurate foreign intelligence has been – more than 80% of Gitmo detainees had absolutely no link to terrorism and were never on a live battlefield fighting Coalition Troops. This is George Orwell territory!

Google, a private company, is operating what has clearly become a critical part of the public infrastructure. As such, it is needed to be regulated, overwatched and treated like part of the government.

““Our efforts during phase two, when we’re going to focus on the violent far right in America,”

Hilarious, considering that it is the Soros’ left that violently attacks Trump supporters at rallies, destroys property and eggs women. The fake American left have become the new brownshirts of America. Google.com should change its name to Goebbels.com.

I, too, was struck by the “phase two” focus on the “violent far right.” It was recently reported that a presidential candidate, Jill Stein, was being targeted for arrest for criminal trespass, criminal mischief, and vandalism that occurred during a demonstration against the Dakota Access Pipeline. The charge of vandalism stemmed from the act of spray painting contractor heavy equipment. To those on the left end of the American political spectrum, her actions are being defined as merely a form of civil disobedience that is intended to non-violently affect political outcomes that best serve the common good. Those on the right however, would be more inclined to describe her behavior as merely a form of political brand building. Both could be true. This having been said, radical left political agendas are often advanced by means of more violent (revolutionary) actions. Anti-apartheid agitation in South Africa is a good case in point. Peoples courts were used by the ANC to reach summary judgements against accused collaborators as a pretext to “necklacing” them; “necklacing is the practice of summary execution and torture carried out by forcing a rubber tire, filled with petrol, around a victim’s chest and arms, and setting it on fire. The victim may take up to 20 minutes to die, suffering severe burns in the process.” Winnie Mandela, then-wife of the imprisoned Nelson Mandela, was an advocate of this method of progressive social transformation. In post WWII Greece, communist agitators would attempt to sow political discord by destroying crops and burning fields to the point at which the people were starving. In similar fashion, Bulgarian communists used acts of terror and kangaroo courts for political cleansing to bring the population into Soviet orbit. And, of course, there is the red terror of 1918 itself.

As inverted totalitarianism is the emerging order of the day in the US, the potential for violent political agitation from the far left is better tolerated by the corporate community because its radical agenda of social devolution can only result in a culture consumed by postmodern pessimism (learned helplessness). Learned helpless eventually evolves into political apathy as the range of choice offered by the corporate controlled two party system serves to systematically undermine public confidence in democratic institutions themselves. The lesser of two evils rationale that has been most recently adopted by the progressive left to insure Hillary Clinton’s victory over Trump will only serve to further legitimize the two-party process by which the electorate is prevented from having a significant impact on policies adopted by the state – as Clinton only truly represents the interests of her corporate sponsors (Obama 2.0).

I realize that the way advertising is already presented on the internet (i.e. the instant you search for a product on amazon ads for it pop up on every site you visit) is its own form of control and propaganda, but deliberate targeting in order to change people’s viewpoints based on collected metadata seems offensive on so many levels.

What else can you say, it’s better than sending undercover FBI agents into communities?

You’re thinking small. If it’s effective it will be used to target much more than “right-wing American extremists.” Why wouldn’t it be used to try to reprogram anyone with ideas counter to the interests of corporations?

Yeah, this has “pilot program” written all over it. You can mix up some cocoa butter, bullshit and vermilion and smear it all over this pig, but it’s still “good corporate citizenship by censorship” and nothing can change that. And nothing can change the fact that censorship doesn’t even WORK, not for any useful purpose; it’s a tactical tool meant to trick people just long enough to get them into a re-fi contract or a zyklon van.

There’s a way to oppose the ISIS narrative and it’s a way we should use, but it’s on the up and up. We start at the far end, we promote sites like ReligionOfPeace, we explain to people why Muhammad was a pirate of the sandy sea, a killer of his critics, a low-quality plagiarist of Jewish religious texts. Or we go even further and try to actually develop in ourselves a genuine faith in somebody like Jesus who actually had something meaningful to say. There are a lot of military ways to drain the lake to catch the fish, but in this case we want to do it philosophically: we want to gently oppose the false premises at the start rather than come face to face with the false conclusion at the end.

I’m pleased to report the program is working like a charm. The jihadists have all signed up as volunteers for Mr. Trump, and the right wing extremists have all signed up to fight with Al-Sham in Syria.

The military has a phrase for this sort of endeavor, PSYOPS (psychological operations). The fact that the US government is now going to target its own citizens just shows the Orwellian reality that we live in. As others have mentioned in this comment section, “where does it end and whom gets to decide what’s considered an extremist view”. On a similar note, Google reported that in their 300 case studies for this program, targets clicked on ads at three to four times the normal rate. Don’t think for a minute that this technology won’t be packaged and sold to Google’s fellow elites.

I’ll have to send the CEO of War Inc., a video of puppies lolloping through a summer meadow. We’ll have peace braking out across the globe. Who would ever of thought the solution to such a complex problem was so simple?

If I am reading this correctly, the object of the program is to target “potentially violent far right” persons and direct them to a YouTube channel which will “refute far right propaganda.” Unfortunately for the developers of this program, there’s a problem with that which they have overlooked.

Essentially, the whole of society already does “refute far right propaganda.” The major media is very opposed to the far right, never missing a chance to demonize or ridicule them, constantly comparing them to “nazis” and calling them “racists,” while repeating mantras like “diversity is our greatest strength.” There hasn’t been a WWII movie made anywhere in the Anglosphere which hasn’t demonized Germany since maybe “Cross of Iron” or “A Bridge Too Far,” and most of the readers of this article will have to look those up and most of the stars of them are now deceased. The evils of the Holocaust are taught in history class in every grade from kindergarten through senior year. Social media is a giant echo chamber where any “far right” positions are cause for “de-friending” and nobody gets fired for saying “black lives matter” but they will get fired for something as milquetoast as “ALL lives matter” or “blue lives matter,” let alone the forbidden and highly racist “white lives matter” which would make one unemployable in a hurry.

So, the program is going to try and find people who have experienced a lifetime’s worth of unceasing propaganda which demonizes any far-right positions whatsoever, and REJECTED it to the point of being considered potentially violent, and then they’re going to direct them to videos which contain more of the propaganda which they’ve already rejected.

Oh yeah, that’s gonna work.

This program is gonna fall so hard the sound of the crash will echo throughout history.

Maybe the more relevant question is: what are the circumstances and issues that are leading to extremism? Oh right, those questions are frowned down upon. Mass indiscriminate tracking and behavior manipulation it is then.

“targets potentially violent Jihadis and directs them to a YouTube channel with videos that refute ISIS propaganda.”
What about a program that targets war mongers and profiteers? What about a program that targets Christian extremists and those who preach hatred against so-called non-believers? What about a program that targets exploitation of the poor masses and defenseless citizens all over the world? Terrorism is NOT the worst plague currently, there are other worst evil going on everywhere in nations across the world especially the western and middle eastern worlds. I am calling for a program to de-whatever else you want to de-….

probably the same thieves who supply crapware contracts to other suckers who need the taxpayers they are getting patented A1 top of the line guaranteed no problem depend on us crapware that always gets hacked from some junk dealer called m something.

if you vote right for rule by right wing billionaires instead of a govt by you,the public, then you’re 100% a brainwashed retard. roosevelt was a proud pregressive, and all the rights we do have didn’t come from vile greedy right wing billionaires, they came almost entirely from democrats. try reading something other than right wing propaganda.

Actually,our rights did not come from Democrats-nor do they come from the GOP.
The rights in our Bil of Rights are pre-existing rights,government does not grant rights.
Try reading something other than leftist propaganda and revisionist history.
There are as many vile leftist billionaires are there are billionaires from the right.
Gates,Zuckerberg,Soros,Bloomberg,et-al want to tell the rest of us how to live our lives,and what we can and can not do. Most of that cabal wants a global open borders society,along with the elimination of the white race as a majority population anywhere in the world.
It’s the left,and leftist/Marxist propaganda,and the left’s revision of history to demonize white people,and the American and European white man’s contributions to society.
demonize white people,especially white Christian males,with extra emphasis on southern white Christian males.
Re-writing history doesn’t change history,and demonizing entire cultures does not make them disappear. Nor does banning the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia make southern culture and heritage disappear.
Re-writing the history of the American civil war does not change the fact that slavery was only one of many reasons the war was fought,nor does it change the fact that very few southern whites were slave owners.
The left wants everyone to believe in their propaganda,and their version of history-which is far from factual.
The Clintons,and all the wealthy leftists who support them have caused,and are causing far more damage to America than any right wing group ever has.
Anyone voting for Hillary is voting for rule by left wing billionaires,instead of rule by you the public-if they don’t comprehend that-then they are beyond help because they have drunk the leftist kool-aid,are 100% brainwashed retard.

“You needn’t take it any further, sir. You’ve proved to me that all this ultraviolence and killing is wrong, wrong, and terribly wrong. I’ve learned me lesson, sir. I’ve seen now what I’ve never seen before. I’m cured! Praise Bog! I’m cured!

“I kept having this dream. Yeah, like all these doctors were playing around with me gulliver; you know like the inside of me brain. I seem to have this dream over and over again. Do you think it means anything?”

“targets potentially violent Jihadis and directs them to a YouTube channel with videos that refute ISIS propaganda.”

So, a program that targets Progressives and actively “YouTube channel pulls preexisting videos ” and redirects them to Infowars or Breibart would be considered showing them actual “deradicalizing content”?

In my view, what’s needed is for our leaders and every American to be led to videos showing the mass carnage and destruction that our military excursions have produced in the Middle East for more than half a century. Then, with a little honest viewing, people would have a good idea of why they really hate us.

Anyone with a lick of common sense or basic idea of fairness couldn’t help but see the unholy effects of our desire to dominate the region in every way through our military might and an uncanny ability–with the acquiescence of a compliant, military worshipping media–to keep the victims from being noticed.

Potential jihadists are simply people from the region who have noticed. They can’t help but notice, because they live there. It’s their people, their children, their wedding parties that have been bombed. It’s been their villages and homes that have been destroyed. Who wouldn’t take up arms against a country that would do that to you?

This program sounds like a throwback to a neocon wet dream from another time, Voice of America. This nonsense in simply VOA 2.0–propaganda made for the internet age. What the fuck is Google is doing?

The hatred started in the 7th century, not in 1965. Just as they told our founders in the early 19th century during the Barbary Pirates issue, they believe they are supposed to control the world and subdue everyone else.

When will people realize that Google is a spyware company that works for the government. Stop using their services and remember that even if you don’t use Google (or Facebook) they will still track you across the web.

Playing with fire. Imagine King George’s plan to de-radicalise the colonists in new America. Fair and balanced is a good idea, and acting to prevent religious fanatics and racisim is good, but, this sort of intervention is also the tool for propagandists. The pendulum always swings.